In Suspense
by MintiNeko
Summary: She was brave but foolish, and now Hinata hangs between life and death. But she will not be alone, and will not be let go in vain. Spoilers for recent chapter.


**Warning:** Spoilers for the most recent chapter.

Also, I have no idea where this came from.

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**In Suspension**

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She had expected death to hurt a little more.

But now, she felt nothing. Her eyelids were heavy, and she didn't dare open them, for fear that, should she do so, the blackness inside would spread out around her form and smother her.

_Hinata._

She was floating; there was nothing beneath her body, and her limp arms could feel nothing near her sides.

_Hinata._

She didn't want to think, didn't want to feel. She just wanted to stay here, drifting.

_Hinata._

Someone was calling her name.

The voice was beautiful, but stripped of any of the personal inflections and strains that would have made it _someone's_ voice, and not merely a disembodied being, hovering by her ear. Still, Hinata was compelled to reach for it, fruitless as the exercise seemed. Her body protested the action, rebelling against her even as she raised her arm above her head and splayed her fingertips wide…

And then she was being pulled out of the nothingness; a hand, real and solid, clasping her own and pulling her, up, up—

Her head broke the surface and suddenly there was light shining through her eyelids, light and warmth and sun—

"Hinata-chan." The voice was no longer unattached, but still heartbreakingly beautiful.

She knew that voice.

Hinata opened her eyes to the face of a beautiful woman with ivory skin, blue-black hair that reached her ankles, who wore a white shroud.

Her eyes mirrored Hinata's.

The woman smiled; the smile of a woman who has waited a very long time to see what is now before her.

"Mother…" Hinata whispered, wanting to hug the vision before her tightly and never let go. She became conscious of the dirt in her hair, the swelling on her temple, the blood seeping into the fabric of her jacket.

Her mother simply smiled and took Hinata into her arms, as she broke apart, sobbing. Her mother said nothing, just smiled and stroked her daughter's hair and soothed her.

When her tears had run their course, Hinata wiped her eyes and, curious, looked at what was around her for the first time. There was light everywhere, the sky tinted deep pink and red. The ground beneath her was covered with soft, pale grass, and she could see trees in the distance. She glanced curiously at the tiny flowers dotting the green, and almost automatically, her eyes were drawn to the deep pond before her. It was the deepest clearest blue; but at the same time promised something sinister. Hinata shuddered instinctively, and pressed closer to her mother.

"I was frightened that I wouldn't see you," her mother's soft, chime-like voice whispered in her ear. "I feared you might drift forever, and I would never see you again."

"Am I dead?" asked Hinata, still staring, transfixed, into the pond. For a second, she was reminded, with a painful twinge in her heart, of Naruto. He must hate her now, for being so selfish, going up against a being so far beyond her for her own, foolish reasons.

"No."

Hinata looked to her mother, who laughed at the shock written over her daughter's features. "You are not dead; you are simply in transition. But, until your body is safe again, you will stay with me. I will protect you. Don't be afraid."

"But, Naruto-kun…"

"He will be safe, and stop those notions running through your head. He cares for you a great deal, and you were very brave, my daughter. Now, sleep."

Calmed by her mother's voice, Hinata snuggled deep into her mother's arms, her eyes closing, her ears only barely catching her mother's whisper.

"My brave, sweet daughter. How proud we are of you."

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**AN:** My response to chapter 437. I don't know where the idea of Hinata's mother came along, but it was too good to pass up. Hopefully she'll survive. At least I think she will.

In other news, is it just me, or do I write a lot about ghosts?

Review please!


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